I'm not sure. I love the look of sand but its kind of a pain to maintain. I had a sand bed in there but it was too fine and the pumps were moving it around, you can still see some left over. I have been siphoning it out each water change. The tank is certainly cleaner without a sand bed. I have access to the bottom of the tank since it is on a metal stand so I think I will end up painting something and attaching it to the bottom of the glass to make it look like sand.

The underside of my sump is spray painted with a stone/sand looking paint and it looks better than just bare bottom I think.

I really love the tanks with sand, more natural looking. But I have to admit I will probably go with a bare bottom when I redo my tank. Maybe epoxy sand around the base of the rock and do a colored bottom like you are thinking.